Computers, game consoles, personal digital assistants, and other information appliances typically include some type of user interface through which inputs and outputs pass. Inputs from the user are often delivered through a cable from a keyboard, a mouse, a joystick, or other controller. The user actuates keys, buttons, or other switches included on the controller in order to provide input to the information appliance. The action a user takes in order to provide input to an information appliance, such as pressing a button or other input action.
In some applications it may be desirable for an input action to be driven by a particular human gesture. Specialized input devices can be used in such applications so that the user can provide command and control inputs by performing a particular gesture in direct physical contact with the input device. For example, in a dance competition game, the game prompts the user to “perform” various dance moves. A pressure sensitive pad is typically provided so that the user can perform a dance move by tapping a specified portion of the pressure sensitive pad with one of the user's feet. In this way, the input action (that is, tapping a portion of the pressure sensitive pad) captures an aspect of a dance move.
Other approaches to supplying input to an information appliance may make use of gesture recognition technology. Many mobile hand held devices include accelerometers or other sensors which may sense a user's motions or gestures. Another approach involves so-called wearable sensors that are attached to the user to measure the user's various movements. These measurements are then used to determine the gesture that the user is performing.
Currently, input devices are single components that typically feed into applications over a cable, such as a USB cable, or by wireless RF. Multiple controllers can be connected to one application, for example for multi-player games or complex control of a single game, but the multiple input streams are handling individually by the applications. Alternately, games may be custom-written to use multiple sensors, so the underlying implementation would be much less flexible.